Statistical and Thermal Physics

Fundamentals and Applications

M.D. Sturge

• Publisher: A K Peters/CRC Press
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781439864425
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Mathematics
• Subtopic: Mathematics General
• Index: Mathematics

This book is based on many years of teaching statistical and thermal physics. It assumes no previous knowledge of thermodynamics, kinetic theory, or probability---the only prerequisites are an elementary knowledge of classical and modern physics, and of multivariable calculus. The first half of the book introduces the subject inductively but rigorously, proceeding from the concrete and specific to the abstract and general. In clear physical language the book explains the key concepts, such as temperature, heat, entropy, free energy, chemical potential, and distributions, both classical and quantum. The second half of the book applies these concepts to a wide variety of phenomena, including perfect gases, heat engines, and transport processes. Each chapter contains fully worked examples and real-world problems drawn from physics, astronomy, biology, chemistry, electronics, and mechanical engineering.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Temperature, Work, and Heat
• Chapter 3: Macrostates and Microstates
• Chapter 4: Entropy, Free Energy, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
• Chapter 5: The Canonical Distribution: The Boltzmann Factor and the Partition Function
• Chapter 6: Continuous Energy Levels, the Density of States, and Equipartition
• Chapter 7: Systems with a Variable Number of Particles: The Chemical Potential
• Chapter 8: Perfect Gases
• Chapter 9: Ideal Gases and Solutions
• Chapter 10: Black Body Radiation and the Photon Gas
• Chapter 11: The Perfect Bose Gas: Bose-Einstein Condensation
• Chapter 12: The Perfect Fermi Gas
• Chapter 13: Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors
• Chapter 14: Phase Transitions
• Chapter 15: Heat Engines
• Chapter 16: Transport Processes
• Appendix A: Expansion in Series
• Appendix B: Review of Quantized States
• Appendix C: Proof That the Zero’th Law Implies the Existence of Temperature
• Appendix D: Some Results in Probability Theory
• Appendix E: Differentials, Partial Derivatives, and the Maxwell Relations
• Appendix F: Standing Wave Solutions of the Wave Equation
• Appendix G: The Equipartition Theorem
• Appendix H: Some Results in the Kinetic Theory of Gases
• Glossary
• List of Symbols
• Physical Constants
• Bibliography
• Index